Appliance for attaching clips to goods



April 17, 1956 A. BRUGGMANN 2,741,765

APPLIANCE FOR ATTACHING CLIPS TO GOODS Filed July 28. 1952 5Sheets-Sheet l April 17, 1956 A. BRUGGMANN 2,741,765

APPLIANCE: FOR ATTACHING CLIPS TO GOODS Filed July 28, 1952 5Sheets-Sheet 2 3f /fa rrop/vf y April 17, 1956 A. BRUGGMANN APPLIANCEFOR ATTACHING CLPS TO GOODS 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed July 28, 1952 /47roe/vf y April 17, 1956 A. BRUGGMANN APPLIANCE: FOR ATTACHING CLIPS ToGoons 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed July 28,. 1952 y new* No@ mw? er h] E n. IH423 .II -W- lllnllnuunu O3 a@ m2 m9 i: m2 j H mw lllll .1, ||||U z.lllrlll UO@ wmv lmullhMJlwWlllWlrlvllr. m mv f m5 Wwfwnlll v V Q 9 meN. 4\ Sv m: o: E J

m9\. #mi

mov

April 17, 1956 A. BRUGGMANN 2,741,765

APPLIANCE: FOR ATTACHING CLIPS To Goons Filed July 28, 1952 5sheets-sheet 5 Unite APPLIANCE FR ATTACHING CLIPS TO GOODS AlbertBruggmann, Gossau, Switzerland, assignor to Ludi & Cie,Ivletallwarenfabriken, Flawii, St. Gallen, Switzerland Application .luly23, 1952, Serial No. 301,311

Claims priority, application Switzerland September 2, 1949 2 Claims.(Cl. 1-101) which clips with legs of unlike lengths are introduced intog the apparatus and then are clamped together with the goods (e. g.piece of textile) by the apparatus, in which the uneven legs of theclips are hook-shaped on both ends, so that the fastening togetherprocess is achieved by means ofthe pressing together of the hook-shapedends.

Apparatuses into which clips with uneven legs are fed are not nearly soadvantageous in their construction and safety of operation as appliancesbuilt for the feeding' in of clips with equal legs. This is because theconstruction of the former is more complicated than the construction ofthe latter and their safety of operation is naturally less, due to themore complex structure. The more complex construction of appliances intowhich the clips with uneven legs are fed is shown by the fact that theappliance must have a special device in it to place the incoming clipsin a very exact and definite position with relation to the part of themachine which takes up the clips and carries them onward, thuspreventing any sticking or stopping during the operation of the machine.The present inven tion faces the fundamental problem of constructing anapparatus of the species originally mentioned in which clips havingunequal legs (which are in many respects more advantageous in theirfastening powers) are used to bind the goods but in which clips havingequal legs are at first introduced into the apparatus. The presentapparatus is built accordingly, by means of the combination (a) a devicefor introducing and transporting clips which allows for the use of clipshaving unequal legs and (b) a` bending device for bending clips havingequal legs into clips having unequal legs and (c) a clamping device forclamping the last clips onto the goods, and (d) a power device toactuate the above devices. Such an apparatus combines for the first timethe advantages of the use of clips having equal legs which are to beintroduced into the machine and also of the use of clips having unequallegs when it comes to fastening them onto the goods.

This invention forming a combination that is especially advantageous inits construction and operation when their elements, i. e. the device forintroducing the clips and for transporting the clips; the bending andclamping device; and the power device have the detailed characteristicsexplained in the description and drawing and defined in the claims.

Other objects and features of the invention will become apparent fromthe now following description of an embodiment given by way of examplewith reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Sates Patent O 2,741,765 Patented Apr. .17, V19513 ice Fig'. 1 is a partview'f the'appliance as seen from the front,

Fig. 2 is a part side view,

' Fig. Sis a view corresponding to Fig. 2, but with the components inanother position;

Fig. 4 shows one of the clips being applied to a piece of textilefabric; n

Fig. 5 shows another form of clip in the undeformed State,

Fig. 6 shows the clip according to Fig. 5, as applied to a piece oftextile fabric, in various stages of deformation,

Fig. 7 is part front elevation, partly in section, of'a modifiedembodiment of the appliance according to the invention, Y

Fig. 8 is a part lateral elevation thereof, n

Figs. 9 to 11 show the transport and closing members of Fig. 8` invarious operative positions,

Figs. l2 to 14a show the coupling members of Fig. 8 in various operativepositions. Y

In Figs. l to 4, 1 denotes the frame of the appliance, to which a motorM is fitted. Through a bevel gear 2, the motor M drives a shaft 3 androllers 6, on which the drum 4 rests freely. On its periphery this drumis providedY with iiuting 5 so that, when the shaft 3 rotates, the drum4 is carried round by the rollers 6 in rotation. Flanges 7 arrangedadjacent the rollers 6 prevent the drum from moving in the longitudinaldirection of the shaft 3. Whilst the drum 4 is closed at one side by thebottom 8, itis provided at the other side with an opening 9. Throughthis opening, a bar 10, for example of approximately triangular crosssection, projects into the said drum 4, and is kept vibrating by impactsimparted to it by the shaft 3 through a noncircular disc 11 and pin 12.The front end of the bar 10, i. e. the end on the right hand side inFig. i, is within the range of a transfer member 13 which has the formof a disc having a dog or nose 14 on its periphery. This transfer member13 is geared by a gear to a secondary shaft 3a which is temporarycoupled` to the shaft 3 by coupling means which will be described later.

The dog 14 of the transfer member 13 enters into a slot 15 of the bar10, and at each revolution of the transfer member 13 removes one of theclips resting astride the bar 10. The direction of rotation of the disc13 is indicated by the arrow 16.

In an obliquely inclined guide channel 17 (see Figs. 2 and 3) of theframe 1, a pusher 18 can be moved toand-fro by link 19. This link isconnected at one end to the pusher 18 by means of a pin 20, and at theother end by means of a crank pin 21 to a disc 22 which is mountedy Y onthe said secondary shaft 3a. A reciprocating motion is imparted to thepusher 18 by the rotary motion of the shaft 3a.

In order to be able to keep the clips 23 upon the pusher 18 and toprevent them from falling off, to supervise the operation, and quicklyto remove stoppages, the guide channel 17 is covered on its side by aremovable plate 24 (Fig. 1) preferably made of a transparent plastic.

Above the upper end of the guide channel 17 for the pusher 1S acounter-holder or closing member 25 is arranged whose shape is concaveon the underside as can be seen from Figs. 2 and 3. This counter-holder26 is pivoted on an axle 27 about which it can be turned byV means of anadjustment screw 23.' The head of the counter-holder 26 has a nose 29against which the clips 23 come to bear at the end of the stroke or"Vthe pusher' 18. On the other hand, the upper side of the pusher 18 isprovided with a nose 3G (Figs. 2 and 3), against which the bend in themiddle of the clip 23 comes to lie, while the nose 29 of thecounter-holder 26 engages the upper end ofthe clip 23. As the movementof the pusher 18 is oblique, it has one component tending to close theclip 2 3, and another component tending to shift the clip relative toits upper end which is held in the horizontal direction by the nose 29of the counter-holder. The clip 23 is accordingly deformedasymmetrically in a manner which will be described later more in detailwith reference to Fig. 4.

In front of the counter-holderr26 a guide piece 31 is pivoted on an axle32, as can be seen from Figs. 2 and 3. The guide piece 31 is turned upat an angle at its front end 31a facing the counter-holder, so that thegoods 33 'to which the clips are to be applied can be iaid on themachine table 34 in such a manner that their ends abut against the saidupward bend 31a of the guide piece 31.

The axle 32 is operatively connected (Fig. 1) to the aforesaid couplingmeans or clutch by means of which the secondary shaft 3a can'betemporary coupled to the shaft 3. This is effected for just one rotationof shaft 3a whenever the axle 32 is angularly deflected about its axis.

Now if clips 23 have to vbe attached to goods, in particular totextiles, they are for this purpose lled into the drum 4. Because of therotation of the drum, they fall on to the bar along which they slideastride down from the left to the right in Fig. l, in consequence of thevibratory movement of the bar. Since the clips are formed absolutelysymmetrical with equal arms, no mechanism is required to introduce themin the desired position into the closing mechanism.

In the appliance described it is of no importance whether a clip lieswith one arm or the other on the pusher 18. From the lower end of thebar 10 the clips are raised by the dog 14 of the rotating disc 13, and

are thrown with one of their arms into the pusher guidev 17 where theyslide downwards. The lower end position of the pusher 18 is shown inFig. 2. When the goods 33 to which the clip has to be attached are nowplaced on the machine table 34, laid against the upward bend 31a of theguide piece 31, and when the latter is swung clockwise in Figs. 2 and 3,then in the manner described hereinabove the drive of the pusher 18 isstarted, and the said pusher moves into its top end position as shown inFig. 3. In the course of this movement, the clip 23 is deformed in themanner shown in Fig. 4, by the faces of the pusher 18 and of thecounter-holder 26 facing one another.

In the range of the middle bend 36 connecting the arms 35 the clip isdeformed asymmetrically by being doubled-up, and is turned over into theposition shown in chain-dotted lines, whereby stresses are set up in thematerial which increase the clamping force. The end bends 37 of the arms35 are thus displaced with respect to one another in the longitudinaldirection of the clip, so that with the altered shape of the middle bend36 and with the end bends 37 a particularly good clamping eiect isattained with the least possible damage to the goods.

The appliance described works fully automatically in that it is merelynecessary to lay the goods 33 on to the table 34 and to swing the guidepiece 31 manually, after which the pushing forward of the clip 23 andits subsequent closing take place automatically.

The advantage in comparison with known clamping appliances making asharp angular kink in the clips consists in that the specic deformationof the clip material is considerably less because of the radius ofcurvature of the bend of the clip is merely being reduced. This ailows,for the same clamping force, the use of a harder material .and thus ofone of smaller cross section, so that a saving in clip material can beattained.

Referring now to Fig. 5, a somewhat modified clip is shown in theunderformed state in which its arms 135', 135" are symmetrical about itscentral bend 136, and their ends 137', 137 are firstly bent towards oneanother and then bent away from one another in an S-shape.

In Fig. 6 various stages of deformation of this clip are shown: thebroken-off full lines show just the beginning of deformation; thechain-dotted lines show how the radius of curvature of the bend 136 isreduced adjacent the arm 135' while remaining substantially unaifectedadjacent the arm 1135"; the dotted lines show a further stage ofdeformation, resulting in that the end 137 is shifted inwards towardsthe bend 136; and the complete full lines show the final position inwhich the end 137 has moved inwards past the other end, 137", clampingthe goods 133 between the convex part of ythe S-shaped end 137 and theconcave part of` the S-shaped end 137", holding the same rmly Withoutexposing the same to being damaged by the cut-oit` ends of the clip.

Referring now to Figs. 7 to 14a, the casing of the machine is denoted101, on top of which an electric motor M is attached. This motor drivesa shaft 104 and rollers 105 via a V-bclt drive 102 and bevel gearing103. The drum 106 lies freely on the rollers 105 and is provided withiluting 107' on its circumference so that it is carried along inrotation by the rotating rollers 105. Flanges 108 arranged on the shaft104 prevent any longitudinal movement of the'drum 105 relative to theshaft 104 and rollers 105.

Through an aperture 109 on the right hand side (Fig. 7) of the drum 106,a bar 110 projects into the interior of the drum. This bar 110 has forexample a substantially triangular cross section, and a more or lessstrong vibratory motion is imparted to it by a pin 111 which isreciprocated by an arm 111a engaged by a dog 103a attached to the bevelgear wheel on shaft 104 and forming part of the bevel gearing 103.

The forwardend of the bar 110 (Fig. 7, right hand side) projects intothe range of a transfer member 112 which is geared by a gear to a shaft104a (which will be described later) and is constructed as a disc havinga dog or nose 113 on its periphery. This nose enters into a slot 114 ofthe bar 110, and at every revolution of the disc 112, one clip ridingastride the bar 110 is carried off by said nose. The direction ofrotation of the disc 112 is indicated by an arrow.

The clip carried off by the disc 112 drops into an appropriately shapedrecess 116 (Fig. 9) of a transport member 11S which reciprocated on asubstantially horizontal arc by means of a link 117 articulated to it bya pin 119, and articulated by a pin 120 to a disc 121 attached to saidshaft 104a which is temporarily coupled to the aforesaid shaft 104 in amanner which will be described later in detail. Upon rotary movement ofthe shaft 104a the clip is accordingly carried by the transport member118 towards a recess 122 (Figs. 8 to 10) provided provided laterally onthe casing 101, and is clamped there on to the goods by the closingmember 123 (Fig. 11) which is pivoted onan axle 127 and which has a nose130. Its end moves on a substantially vertical arc i. e. perpendicularto the path of the end of the transport member 118.

On the axle 127 a bell crank lever 124 is pivoted independently of theclosing member 123, one arm of which lever carries a roller 126 runningon the periphery of the disc 121 which has a cam 125 cooperating withthe roller 126. The movement of the bell crank lever 124 is transmittedthrough a compression spring 128 to the closing member 123, which springis interposed between the other arm of the heli cranl` lever and aprojection 123' of the closing member. By means of an adjustment screw129 screwed into an extension 123" of the closing member and abuttingagainst the adjacent arm of the bell crank lever v124 the relativeinitial position of the latter and the closing member 123 can beadjusted.

' As pointed out hereinabove, Fig. 9 shows how a clip, still undeformed,is inserted by the transfer member 112 into the transport member 118;Fig. 10 shows'how this transport member is moved by the link 117 to aposition adjacent the recess 122, and Fig. 1l shows how the nose 130 ofclosing member 123 catches the end of the clip lying on top of transportmember 118 in such a manner that by the combination of the substantiallyhorizontal movement of the latter with the substantially verticalmovement of the closing member 123 the ends of the legs of the clip areshifted relative to one another longitudinally when being rolled-inwhereby the final asym metrical shape of the clip is gradually attainedas described hereinabove with reference to Fig. 6.

A control lever 131 is pivoted on the casing at 131a and extends intothe range of the recess 122. An arm 141 is pivoted to the said lever 131and extends with its nose 142 into the range of a cam 138 which isattached to a shaft 137.

Further components which have been omitted from Figs. 7 to 11 forclarity will now be described with reference to Figs. 12 to 14a whichshow these components in conjunction with the components describedhereinabove in various operative positions.

Figs. 12 and 12a show these components in the starting position: aratchet wheel 132, iixedly mounted on the shaft 104, rotates in thedirection of the arrow 133 when the motor M has been switched on. A disc134 xed to the shaft 104a carries a pawl 136 pivoted on a pin 135. Twocams 13S (Fig. 12) and 139 (Fig. 12a) as well as a counterpoise 140 arelxedly connected to a shaft 137.

Figs. 13 and 13a show these components during the insection of the goodsto be stapled into the recess 122, whereby the lever 131, too, is movedback. The lever 131 then pushes the arm 141 along in such a manner thatthe nose 142 thereof transmits an rotational movement to the cam 138.Consequently the cam 139 on the opposite side (Fig. 13a) releases theintermediate member 143. The pawl 136 can now turn about the pin 135under the pressure of the spring 144 whereby the nose 145 gets into therange of the rotating ratchet wheel 132. Accordingly the rotary motionof the shaft 104 is transmitted on to the shaft 104:1.

The device described operates in a fully automatic manner: it is merelynecessary to insert the goods to be stapled into the recess 122 by meansof the thumbs and and foreingers of both hands. Thereby the lever 131,too, is simultaneously moved, whereupon the advancing of the clip andthe closing thereof is effected automatically. The inner couplingmembers are so constructed that, after their operation, the shaft 104acan perform a single revolution only, and then comes to a standstill,again in the starting position:

When the goods are inserted into the recess 122, the lever 131 gets intoits end position (Fig. 14), immediately after the coupling operationdescribed hereinabove.

The nose 142 of the arm 141 slides over'the cam 138, and thecounterpoise restores the shaft 137 with the two cams 138 and 139 to itsinitial position. The intermediate member 143 (Fig. 14a) is shiftedforward again, and raises the pawl 136, which in the meantime hascompleted exactly one revolution owing to the ratchet wheel 132, out ofrange of the ratchet teeth thereof. The transporting and closing membersof the machine are then immobilised until a further operation of thelever 131 is effected.

While I have described and illustrated what may be considered a typicaland particularly useful embodiment of my said invention I Wish it beunderstood that I do not limit myself to the particular detailsdescribed and illustrated for obvious modifications will occur to aperson skilled in the art.

What I claim is:

1. An appliance for forming clips having unequal leg lengths andattaching the same comprising means for supplying individual clip bankshaving legs of equal length to a receiving station, a die member movableto and from said station for conveying said blanks to a forming stationand a forming and clamping member at said forming station cooperatingwith said die member to bend said blank at an intermediate point nearerone leg than the other and about material presented between the legs tosecure the clamp to the material by pressure eX- erted between legs ofdiierent length, and power means for successively moving said die memberand said forming and clamping member.

2. An apparatus according to claim l in which said power means includesclutch mechanism for actuating said die member and said forming andclamping member successively, and means actuating said clutch mechanismin response to positioning of the material to be clipped.

References Cited in the ile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 206,419Brown July 30, 1878 878,593 Akerly et al. Feb. 11, 1908 979,217 SmithDec. 20, 1910 1,050,906 Ballard lan. 21, 1913 1,879,156 Forster Sept.27, 1932 2,096,685 Osgood Oct. 19, 1937 2,335,034 Winterhalter Nov. 23,1943 2,435,589 Hotfecker et al. Feb. 10, 1948 2,447,499 Erk Aug. 24,1948 2,500,217 Taylor Mar. 14, 1950 2,523,388 Natzke et al. Sept. 26,1950

